A neighborhood mainstay, the Chastain Park Garden Club will celebrate its 60th anniversary Thursday at its annual luncheon for members.

Co-president Ada Davis, who leads the organization along with fellow co-president Peaches Brookshire, said the club is a small group of about 20 ladies. Davis has been a club member for 50 years and is one of the longest-standing members. Her first meeting was the one in which the club celebrated its 10th anniversary.

“I had moved in the neighborhood and someone invited me,” she said.

Davis said she has stayed a member of the club for so long because it keeps her connected to the other residents who live around the park.

“It’s really just a way to keep up with the neighborhood,” she said. “I’ve always been a busy person, and this is a great way to keep up with the neighbors in the neighborhood.”

Davis described the club as more of a social group than a service group but said it has been involved with different projects over the years.

“We take care of the little plot — the triangle at the end of Stella Drive where Powers Ferry [Road] and Stella Drive comes together there in front of the Chastain Park Amphitheater,” she said.

“That was the original project [when the club formed in 1954.] We also take care of the flower boxes … in the parking lot there on Powers Ferry. Those are about the only two things that we do that really help the neighborhood.”

Davis said the club also works with the Chastain Park Conservancy to support its mission of improving the welfare and sustainability of the park.

Said club member and past president Harriett Swennes, “We’ve made donations to the Chastain Park Conservancy and the Blue Heron Nature Preserve and that sort of thing. And then we also have speakers come in to our meetings and tell us about gardening.”

Swennes, who joined the club sometime in the late ’70s, said she has been a part of it for decades because of the community connection aspect. She said she has formed friendships with many club members over the years.

“It’s a good way to get to know your neighbors because these days husbands and wives are working,” she said.

“This is just a nice way to get to know some people that maybe you wouldn’t have otherwise known that live really close by.”

INFORMATION: To learn more about the Chastain Park Garden Club, contact secretary Harriett Swennes at hswennes@gmail.com.

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